1. I would like to preach this morning about prayer.
2. EM Bounds said, “How vast are the possibilities of prayer! How wide is its reach! What great things are accomplished by this divinely appointed means of grace! It lays its hand on Almighty God and moves Him to do what He would not otherwise do if prayer was not offered. It brings things to pass which would never otherwise occur. The story of prayer is the story of great achievements.”
3. Our Lord said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13, 14).
4. That is quite a promise!
5. As I preach on this familiar text this morning, I would like to stress these words – “that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
6. God is glorified when our prayers are answered.
7. All sincere prayer glorifies God.  Psalm 50:23 says, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.”
8. So if you are praying and praising the Lord, God is glorified.
9. But God is glorified in a special way when our prayers are answered (John 14:13, 14).

I. IF GOD SAYS “WHATSOEVER YE SHALL ASK,” WHY AREN’T CERTAIN PRAYERS ANSWERED?

1. First of all, there must be a full surrender to the perfect will of God.
2. Psalm 37:4 and 5 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
3. When a Christian is delighting himself (or herself) in the LORD, God’s will becomes his will, and I John 5:14 and 15 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
4. I think many prayers go unanswered because Christians are out of the will of God.
5. How do we know the will of God?  God has revealed His will to us in His Word (cf. James 1:5).
6. Our Lord said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
7. Are you abiding in Christ?
8. Do His words abide in you?
9. If you can honestly say “yes” to these questions, then “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
10. First John 5:14 says, “And this is the confidence that we have in him…”
11. Do you believe what God says?
12. Too many Christians waver at these promises.  They have difficulty believing God. James 1:6 says, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
13. Our Lord said in Matthew 21:22, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
14. So why are certain prayers unanswered?  Lack of faith.
15. Another problem: unconfessed sin.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
16. But praise God, the Psalmist goes on to say, “But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer” (Ps. 66:19).
17. “But verily God hath heard me…” (Psalm 66:19). God does hear our prayers.
18. And God wants to answer our prayers (Luke 11:9-13).
19. God says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jer. 33:3).
20. Here is another problem – James 4:2 and 3 says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
21. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss” (James 4:3). 
22. Oftentimes we pray with the wrong motives.  Evangelist RA Torrey said some women pray for the conversion of their unsaved husbands so her lives will be more pleasant.  He said they are being selfish and are praying with the wrong motive.
23. He said some pray for the conversion of their unsaved husbands because they cannot bear the thought of them spending eternity in hell.  He said that too is the wrong motive.
24. He said, “Why should a woman desire the conversion of her husband?  First of all and above all, that God may be glorified; because she cannot bear the thought that God the Father should be dishonored by her husband trampling under foot the Son of God” (How to Pray).
25. Dr. Torrey said some Christians pray for revival with wrong motives.  Perhaps they want to see the church attendance and offerings go up.  They want the church to have a high profile in the community.  They want to give a great report to other churches in their fellowship.
26. Dr. Torrey said, “Why should we pray for a revival?  For the glory of God, because we cannot endure it that God should continue to be dishonored by the worldliness of the church, by the sins of unbelievers, by the proud unbelief of the day; because God’s Word is being made void; in order that God may be glorified by the outpouring of His Spirit on the Church of Christ.  For these reasons first of all and above all, we should pray for a revival” (How to Pray).
27. Charles H. Gabriel, the hymn writer, had it right when he wrote:
        Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power!
        Thy floodgates of blessing, on us throw open wide!
        Lord, send the old-time power, the Pentecostal power!
        That sinners be converted and Thy Name glorified!
28. We are talking about praying so that God is glorified (John 14:13, 14).   We are praying for the renovation work to be completed.  Why?
29. Because God will be glorified when the work is completed!
30. God is glorified when people are saved and baptized and going out and winning others to Christ (John 15:7, 8).
31. “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss” (James 4:3). 
32. Self-interest and self-will should not motivate us to pray.  Our goal must be the glory of God.
33. First Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
34. Andrew Murray wrote, “What a humbling thought it is, that so often there is earnest prayer in which the desire for our own joy or pleasure is far stronger than any desire for God’s glory. No wonder there are so many unanswered prayers! Here we have the secret. God cannot be glorified when that glory is not the object of our prayers” (With Christ in the School of Prayer).
35. This brings us back to what I said earlier – there must be a full surrender to the perfect will of God.
36. We have to be attentive to the voice of God.  We must be like Samuel, who prayed, “Speak; for thy servant heareth” (I Samuel 3:10).
37. We must be like the apostle Paul, who prayed, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).
38. If we want our prayers answered, we must be in the will of God, and we must know the Word of God because God speaks to us through His Word.
39. If you read the biography of George Mueller you will notice that he always read his Bible when he prayed.   The best biography of Mr. Mueller was written by Dr. AT Pierson, and it is entitled, George Mueller of Bristol, and His Witness to a Prayer-Hearing God.
40. Chapter 10 is entitled, “The Word Of God And Prayer.”  Let me read an excerpt from this very helpful chapter.
      “The prayer habit, on the knees, with the Word open before the disciple, has thus an advantage which it is difficult to put into words: It provides a sacred channel of approach to God. The inspired Scriptures form the vehicle of the Spirit in communicating to us the knowledge of the will of God. If we think of God on the one side and man on the other, the word of God is the mode of conveyance from God to man, of His own mind and heart. It therefore becomes a channel of God’s approach to us, a channel prepared by the Spirit for the purpose, and unspeakably sacred as such. When therefore the believer uses the word of God as the guide to determine both the spirit and the dialect of his prayer, he is inverting the process of divine revelation and using the channel of God’s approach to him as the channel of his approach to God. How can such use of God’s word fail to help and strengthen spiritual life? What medium or channel of reproach could so insure in the praying soul both an acceptable frame and language taught of the Holy Spirit? The first thing is not to pray but to hearken, this surely is hearkening for God to speak to us that we may know to speak to Him.”
41. This has been true of all men and women of prayer.  RA Torrey said, “If we would feed the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God’s Word, all our difficulties in prayer would disappear” (How to Pray).
42. If you are genuinely saved, you can be certain the Holy Spirit will help you to pray effectively (Romans 8:26, 27; cf. Luke 11:11-13).

II. PRAYING IN JESUS’ NAME (JOHN 14:13, 14).

1. This is one of the most important doctrines in the Bible, and yet many Christians misunderstand it (cf. 16:23, 24).
2. Prayer in the name of Jesus has power with God, but too many believers add the name of Jesus to the end of their prayer without giving any thought to what it means.
3. RA Torrey said, “If I go to a bank and hand in a check with my name signed to it, I ask of that bank in my own name.  If I have money deposited in that bank, the check will be cashed; if not, it will not be.  If, however, I go to a bank with somebody else’s name signed to the check, I am asking in his name, and it does not matter whether I have the money in that bank or in any other, if the person whose name is signed to the check has money there, the check will be cashed…So it is when I go to the bank of heaven when I go to God in prayer.  I have nothing deposited there, I have absolutely no credit there, and if I go in my own name I will get absolutely nothing; but Jesus Christ has unlimited credit in heaven, and He has granted me the privilege of going to the bank with His name on my checks, and when I thus go, my prayers will be honored to any extent” (How to Pray).

III. GOD IS GLORIFIED WHEN WE OBEY HIM (JOHN 14:15).

1. Some Christians seldom get their prayers answered because of disobedience (cf. I John 3:22).
2. Consider this if your prayers are not being answered.
3. Our Lord said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).   Are you obeying Him?
4. Our Lord said, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38).
5. Are you obeying Him?
6. Our Lord said, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).  Are you obeying Him?
7. Isaiah 59:1 and 2 says, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
8. “Your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
9. When we obey God, our prayers are answered and God is glorified.
10. When we disobey God, our prayers are not answered because God “will not hear.”
11. Many of us have counseled disillusioned and troubled souls who have given up on God because their prayers have not been answered.  Upon examination we soon discover the problem.
12. The problem is not with God; the problem is disobedience. 
13. First John 3:22 says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”  Are you doing those things that are pleasing in His sight?
14. Think about that the next time you get on your knees to pray.

CONCLUSION:

1. I have heard people foolishly say, “God always answers prayer.  Sometimes He says ‘Yes,’ and sometimes He says ‘No.’”
2. Let me make this as plain as I can – “No” is not an answer to prayer.
3. If you come to me and say, “Pastor, can you give me a ride home?” and I say, “No,” then your request was not granted.
4. If a pastor friend calls me on the phone and says, “Brother, can a missionary friend of mine stay in your guest apartment for a few days?” and I say, “No,” then his request was not granted.
5. And if you prayed specifically for something and God said “No,” then God has not answered your prayer.
6. But Jesus said, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (John 14:14).
7. Therefore, we can be certain our prayers will be answered if we are praying according to the will of God.